They’re very fond of Charles Dickens in Broadstairs. And the feeling was mutual.

The author loved to take his holidays there and various places can lay claim to his residency – including Bleak House, an imposing and forbidding clifftop house where he spent summers in the mid-1800s, and where he wrote David Copperfield.

It’s a connection that’s celebrated all over this seaside town. There’s the Charles Dickens pub, the Dickens House Museum – once owned by a lady who inspired the character of Betsey Trotwood – Nickleby’s cafe, and of course there’s an Old Curiosity Shop.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Broadstairs celebrates this association with an annual Dickens festival, which takes place this year from June 13-19.

The town Dickens called ‘our English watering place’ is the English seaside distilled.

There’s a perfect crescent of a beach, a sea swimming pool exposed at low tide, jaunty striped beach huts and a pier stall selling shellfish.

It helps its appeal, too, that it’s between two rather unlovely resorts, Ramsgate and Margate, which have both seen better days and look unlikely to improve much in the near future.

Broadstairs, by comparison, is quaint, well-preserved and has a great and varied collection of restaurants, most of them one-offs rather than chains.

Its piece de resistance is a perfectly preserved Italian ice cream parlour, Morelli’s, which has been serving sundaes and frothy coffees to families for generations.

Dickens also left his mark on the Royal Albion Hotel which has occupied an impressive position in the middle of the town and right on the seafront since 1776.

The author took some of his Broadstairs holidays here and wrote part of Nicholas Nickleby in one of the upstairs rooms with a view of the sea.

Our own stay at the Royal Albion was marked by no greater literary endeavour than the relaxed reading of a paperback. But it was a very amenable activity, whether sitting in the window of our room or on the multi-layered terrace, cool drink in hand, both with an ever-changing view over Viking Bay.

For all its age the hotel has a friendly, modern vibe, at least in the public areas and airy, refurbished bedrooms. The corridors in between are creaky and darkly oppressive, but they do add to the sense of history and age about the place.

The dining room also has the same mesmerising view over the sea, which was lovely at breakfast where we lingered over delicious Eggs Royale and chatted to the friendly waitress.

The night before we’d enjoyed a smoked salmon, crab and prawn tower followed by pan-fried red mullet with a smoked haddock and spinach potato cake, rice pudding creme brulee and Kentish cheeses.

It was good food, beautifully presented and served by another friendly waitress happy to share her local knowledge with visitors.

There are plenty of entertaining reasons to take a trip to Broadstairs – throughout the summer there’s a folk festival, a food festival and a family-friendly Water Gala.

There’s a very cute-looking independent cinema a stone’s throw from the beach. Crampton Tower Museum, housed in the town’s original water tower by the station, celebrates the work of locally born engineer Thomas Crampton and features exhibits on railways, transport and local history. And the Turner Contemporary Gallery is just up the road in Margate.

But the main reason for a visit to this corner of the country is the same as it’s ever been – the chance to soak up the atmosphere and salty air of a quintessential English seaside town, and sit and watch the world go by over the top of an enormous Morelli’s ice cream.

Getaway

The Royal Albion Hotel, 12 Albion Street, Broadstairs, CT10 1AN, tel 01843 868071. See albionbroadstairs.co.uk/rooms Standard double room costs from £85 per night including breakfast.